Testing Expert Users

[email protected] (Jakob Nielsen) Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:20:00 -0800
Newsgroups gmane.comp.web.alertbox
Message-ID <SPARKLIST-7313542-16554456-2010.01.25-06.20.01--gcwa-alertbox#[email protected]>
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for January 25 is now online at:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/experienced-users.html
	
Summary:
It's more difficult to conduct usability studies with experienced users
than with novices, and the improvements are usually smaller. Still,
improving expert performance is often worth the effort.

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Usability Week 2010 conference

  > Atlanta, GA: February 22-26
  > New York, NY: March 22-26
  > Chicago, IL: April 19-24
  > London, UK: May 16-21

Full program:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events

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CHICAGO: new conference venue

Announcing the April 2010 Usability Week conference: Chicago.
Full program:

   > http://www.nngroup.com/events/chicago/agenda.html

This event features our intensive 3-Day Camp on Usability in Practice
which is not at the other conference cities. Chicago is your only chance:

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/camp.html

Visual design for usability - new 2-day course premiers in Chicago:

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/visual_design.html

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Webcasted TV show

I will appear live on "Net@Night" (hosted by Amber MacArthur and Leo
Laporte) this Tuesday, Jan. 26. Streamed in real-time at:
  > http://live.twit.tv

I am not sure exactly when I will be on, but the show starts as follows:

  (*) 4 PM Tuesday - U.S. Pacific time
  (*) 7 PM Tuesday - U.S. Eastern time
  (*) midnight Tue/Wed - U.K. time
  (*) 1 AM Wednesday - Central European time (Paris, Berlin, etc.)
  (*) 11 AM Wednesday - Australia Eastern Daylight Time (Sydney)

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Bandwidth Law Upheld

I moved to a new house last week and took the opportunity to upgrade my
cable modem to 31 Mbps. (Asian readers: I know this sounds slow to you,
but it's pretty good over here.)

This upgrade provides me with a new data point for the curve of historical
connection speeds since 1984:

  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980405.html

It's interesting to note that the data continues to follow my prediction
from 1998 very closely. I made this prediction based on only 14 years of
data, but the following 12 years' data hug the same line on the chart.